Noah Back Home

Noah and I (david) went up to Charleston on Wednesday night and stayed with the Warners in Mt. Pleasant so we could make the 6am arrival time at the hospital (MUSC). Noah was very happy and awake in the morning and our registration was easy and quick. Even the silly hospital gown was kinda fun for him.
He gave up a bit of struggle getting the pre-op meds in, but that only lasted a second. They had some really great toys in the OR, things that spun and lighted up which he liked so well they let him have it after surgery.
I went with him into the OR and it was only three easy breaths into the mask before he was sound asleep. Breakfast, reading and three and a half hours later and I got a call that he was all done. I beat Noah to the recovery room by about 2 minutes, and he was still almost completely asleep when he got there. After about 5 more minutes of groggy looking around, he became very upset. He ripped the IV our with one tug (at just the right angle not to hurt himself at all), and I held him on my lap for a while as he screamed and tried to get away.
But, he calmed all of a sudden and crawled back into bed to partly sleep for a while longer. Apparently the panic followed by calm is typical for kids waking from surgery, especially when they have been out more than an hour or so.
By the time he wanted to sit up, he was ready to go. The nurses were very pleased with his progress and I finally got a glimpse of his mouth...
He had a baby molar on his bottom right pulled and the tooth in front of it capped in stainless steel in order to hold the spacer in place. That will keep the space reserved for his adult teeth when they start to come in and everything should fit properly in a few years when his new teeth are ready to surface.
I carried him to the car and he rode all the way home with a slight look of concern while lying on his side in the back. It was a quiet trip and we were home by mid afternoon.
In the last 24 hours, he seems stable, is eating and drinking and seems not too much the worse for wear. It's still hard to tell how much pain he's in or if it just feels funny at the moment.
Thanks so much for your prayers, Noah was amazing and I am so proud of him!
-david

Noah's Tooth

Here’s an update on Noah’s condition: He’s not in much pain at the moment, so praise the Lord! He and I drove up to MUSC in Charleston yesterday and saw the doctor (it ended up being 2 doctors, a nurse and me working on him at the same time, but he was a very good sport).

Noah has had a cavity for the last 2 years that we have known about, but (at the recommendation of his dentist in Pittsburgh) we have just watched for signs of its progressing. Basically, since Noah is on a sugar free diet, the dentist said the cavity had a good chance of holding ground and not having to have anything done to it. Since any dental work involves the O.R. and completely knocking him out, the dentist wanted to avoid that if possible.

But, the tooth is now infected and has to be pulled. It has abscessed on both sides of the gum and was causing Noah serious pain for several days until the pressure reduced.

We are scheduled to take Noah back up to Charleston on Thursday morning for an extraction. We are still in the process of figuring out who’s going and where the kids will be. Please keep us in prayers, especially for Noah’s continued coping with the pain. Thanks!

Messing about in Photopshop